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On April 30, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a significant fair use decision in Whyte Monkee Productions LLC v. Netflix Inc., a case arising from the pandemic-era hit docuseries Tiger King.
At issue in that case was a roughly 24-minute video filmed by Timothy Sepi capturing the funeral of Travis Maldonado, the late husband of Tiger King star Joe Exotic. The producers used an unlicensed 66-second clip from that footage in an episode of the series, which depicted parts of Exotic's eulogy interspersed with commentary from Maldonado's mother that was critical of Exotic. Sepi and his production company later sued for copyright infringement.
In this Law360 article, Litigation partner Frank D’Angelo examines the Tenth Circuit’s revised fair use ruling in Whyte Monkee Productions LLC v. Netflix Inc., in which the court held that Netflix’s use of the unlicensed 66-second funeral video clip in Tiger King constituted fair use, and outlines a practical nine-step framework for documentary producers and their counsel to evaluate fair use issues, focusing on transformative purpose, market impact, the nature of the original work and the amount of copyrighted material used.
To read the full article, please visit Law360’s website (subscription may be required).
At issue in that case was a roughly 24-minute video filmed by Timothy Sepi capturing the funeral of Travis Maldonado, the late husband of Tiger King star Joe Exotic. The producers used an unlicensed 66-second clip from that footage in an episode of the series, which depicted parts of Exotic's eulogy interspersed with commentary from Maldonado's mother that was critical of Exotic. Sepi and his production company later sued for copyright infringement.
In this Law360 article, Litigation partner Frank D’Angelo examines the Tenth Circuit’s revised fair use ruling in Whyte Monkee Productions LLC v. Netflix Inc., in which the court held that Netflix’s use of the unlicensed 66-second funeral video clip in Tiger King constituted fair use, and outlines a practical nine-step framework for documentary producers and their counsel to evaluate fair use issues, focusing on transformative purpose, market impact, the nature of the original work and the amount of copyrighted material used.
To read the full article, please visit Law360’s website (subscription may be required).
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